Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it.Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
As a massive fan boy of both 40k and Space Marines when I heard about the new Hatchette collection for Space Marines and Necrons I jumped at the chance.
For those who aren’t aware, Games Workshop and Hatchette are working together to allow players to collect, paint and game with Space Marines and Necrons in a weekly magazine. Each week you’re sent a new issue which usually contains 1-3 models and some paint. The issue will give you background on the models you’ve been sent as well as instructions on how to build and paint them.
Issue #1 arrived through my door late last week. This week’s magazine includes two models, a Primaris Lieutenant with Volkite Pistol and a Necron Royal Warden.
No paints this week, but as a subscriber I did receive a pair of clippers, glue and seam remover as a free gift.
The magazine is nicely detailed, with some information about the factions you’re collecting and some ideas for colour schemes aside from the one you see included on the cover.
Your also given a set of six dice and a small game Matt so that you can take part in your first game (the Warden v the Lieutenant).
The gaming mat
Although it’s not the best quality, I did like that the gaming mat has wound tokens and objective markers which can be cut out and used.
After some work I managed to glue both figures together ready for painting (which as they’re push fit, you don’t need to but I would recommend).
I’ve left the back pack of the marine to make it easier to paint.
I won’t be painting my Marines in the colours of the Ultramarines as shown in the magazine but instead will be painting them as my homebrew chapter the Void Dragons.
One of my other Void Dragon Lieutenants
I’ll try and keep you updated with my progress with the magazine and the two armies as and when I can.
But if you’re interested in subscribing, then I would suggest you check out the website here.
The Woeful Brush Painting Competition Sponsored by SCN Hobby World
Closing date for entries 30th November. £1 entry, win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box set!
On our YouTube channel we had a series known as A Tale of Painters. However, since life has got in the way a little recently and my time for filming and editing videos is very limited o thought it would be best to continue the series in the blog.
So I’ve included (most) of the Woehammer team below and what they’ve been working on since our last episode.
40k Ben
Since the last episode, Ben has been busy on a number of projects. But perhaps his most impressive in this time is his Bel’akor. Ben has even done some on source lighting to great effect!
Bel’akor
Ben even had his first few games of Age of Sigmar against AoS Ben and Declan.
40k Ben’s Chaos v AoS Ben’s Seraphon
As well as this Ben set himself the challenge of painting all this:
For September! As you can see he’s already well on target.
Dave
Dave has started a new Ossiarch Bone Repears army, and has given himself a deadline of 3rd October to have them done. His entire army is around 50 models and so far he’s painted one……
AoS Ben
As always Ben has been extremely busy, as well as finishing his Seraphon army and attending a few tournaments he’s now decided to build another Kharadron Overlord army, the Ghostlords 2.0!
Ben’s Seraphon army
All of his models are always painted to a very high standard and his basing is, in my opinion world class.
Ben recently completed Spiderman using just contrast paints:
Friendly neighborhood Spiderman
Ben also painted the Kruleboy half of the Dominion boxed set:
Ben’s Kruleboyz
Declan
Declan has been busy painting some more units for his Goblin Warmaster army:
Warmaster Goblin Wolf Riders
He’s also recently gotten into Kill Team and has painted up some scenery for his games.
Liam
Liam hasn’t had as much time as he would like to paint. But saying that he’s now down to fifteen models in his pile of shame. He did manage to paint Ghazghkull:
Paul
As always Paul has probably painted around 15 armies in the time since our last episode.
Paul has recently painted a lot of stormcast in order to play Path to Glory in his local gaming club.
Some of Paul’s Stormcast
He’s also been cracking on with his historicals backlog…..
Sexy Saxons
Sarah
Our plastic crack dealer from SCN Hobby World has been continuing her amazing work on her Orks. With an amazingly grubby looking dreadnought.
Green is Mean…
Ed
Ed has been cracking on with his Lumineth to make sure that they’re ready for his first tournament.
Ed was so keen on getting these ready he even had a roadmap for their painting schedule..
As you can see his models are coming on nicely…..
Ed’s Kangaroos
Guests
Jack
This time around we have a guest on our episode. Jack has submitted his Trogg via email to thewoehammer@gmail.com.
The skin on this Troggoth is awesome and you can really get a sense of the icy effect that Jack was after. I’d love to see an entire army of these boys.
If you’d like to submit models for us to look at and include then please either email us at thewoehammer@gmail.comor use #woehammer on Twitter or Instagram.
Don’t forget that we’re doing our first painting competition sponsored by SCN Hobby World where you can win your choice of a Start Collecting or Combat Patrol box for painting any single miniature on a 50mm base. For details see our post on the competition here.
To follow any of the guys above on social media simply click the links below.
This weekends releases are all about Age of Sigmar again with the Kruleboyz taking centre stage with some amazing models. As well as the new releases for the Kruleboyz, there’s also and Age of Sigmar scenery kit and some models from Forgeworld for Necromunda.
This week’s GW releases
Warlord Games Have many items up for pre-order right now, with the majority being for their World War 2 air game Blood Red Skies and Warlords of Erehwon: Mythic America’s
Wargames Atlantic pre-orders are pretty slim at the moment but there are many, many kits in the pipeline.
Two releases for the fallout game this week:
Last week we covered just one offering from Mantic Games. But they have a tonne of items on their pre-order list for many of their games such as Kings of War Halflings, Armada Elves and many factions for their new edition of Deadzone which is being released soon.
Last week we covered the first five games in the all-time top 50 Fantasy battle games, if you’ve not read it, why not take a look now before continuing?
The ratings are taken from BoardGameGeek.com and I have only included games which have more than 50 votes against their name. This may mean that some of the more recent rules are missed off the list (Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, being one).
The listed is sorted by the highest rated to the lowest, with games of equal ratings being split by the number of votes (the more votes, the higher their placing).
45. Warhammer Fantasy Battles (5th Edition) (1996) – Games Workshop
The fifth edition starter set
The fifth edition in became known pejoratively as “Herohammer” because of the imbalance between the very powerful heroes, monsters and wizards in the game and blocks of troops which existed effectively as cannon fodder.Sold as a box set containing not only the rulebooks, templates, dice and rulers, but also two armies of plastic miniatures to be able to play the game “out of the box”, the Bretonnians and Lizardmen. The rules were very similar to that of the fourth edition which itself underwent a re-write compared to the third Edition.
In 1997, the fifth edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Miniatures Rules of 1996.
A Box of Crusaders made by Reaper Miniatures for Warlord
Warlord is a complete game system that uses the Reaper Adventure Game Engine (R.A.G.E.) which was designed for faster play. Each model in the game has a set of numbers and abilities that dictate how well it performs in the game. These numbers and abilities are listed on a Data Card, a record sheet about the size of a standard poker card. A key component of the R.A.G.E. system is the Damage Track. Each row of stats on the Data Card represents a Damage Track which is the total points of damage that the model can sustain before being destroyed and removed from play. As a model takes damage (or injuries), its stats usually change to reflect how those injuries change the performance of the model on the field of battle.
Warlord takes place in the war-torn land of Taltos in the world of Adon. The region is a place of dry, blistering summers and mild winters. Various leaders and their forces battle for control of their own destinies. They battle for the power to become Warlords and become legends by their own hands; some are just and fair while others are cruel and capricious. Life in Taltos is brutal but there is a fortune to be made and eternal fame to be won.
Confrontation is a skirmish level tactical fantasy miniature wargaming in which the combatants are represented by metal or plastic figures in 28 mm scale.
The game is set in Aarklash, a world of medieval fantasy where knights, wizards, priests and barbarians fight each other as well as fantastic creatures such as wolfen, elves, orcs, goblins and the undead. The entire world is at war and all are fighting for the supremacy of the continent.
The rules are intended to be versatile, and are able to represent a small fight between a handful of warriors just as well as a large skirmish between several dozen soldiers and their leaders. The last rules were in its fourth edition, a single hardback edition. The first edition was only available in French, German and Italian, while the second was available in French, German, Italian, English and Spanish. Rackham collapsed in 2010.
In the late 1980s, game designer Stephen Baker moved from Games Workshop to Milton Bradley, and convinced Roger Ford, Milton Bradley’s head of development to allow him to develop a fantasy genre game. Kennedy gave him the go-ahead if he kept the game simple. Basker contacted his former employer, Games Workshop, to develop the plastic miniatures that would be needed in the game, but he then decided to draw on their expertise in the fantasy game field to help develop the game. The result was the fantasy board game HeroQuest (1989), an adventure game where the players cooperate against a single adversarial Games Master. The game was released in Britain, Europe and Australia in 1989, and a slightly different version was released in America and Canada in 1990.
The game consists of a board and a number of individual miniatures and items. The protagonists are four heroes (“Barbarian”, “Dwarf”, “Elf” and “Wizard”) who face a selection of monsters: Orcs, Goblins, Fimir, Chaos Warriors, a Chaos Warlock/witch Lord (which represent many of the named characters for the various quests), a Gargoyle and a number of Undead: skeletons, zombies and mummies.
Chronopia: Dark Fantasy Battles was a tabletop miniature game published by Target Games. Players would field an army composed of 25 mm miniatures which were composed of pewter, resin, or a composite of both. The game featured eight different armies for players to choose from. The game is an adaption of “Drakar och Demoner” a Swedish role playing game very similar to Dungeons and Dragons.
Chronopia is a 28mm-Skirmish-Fantasy-System.
In principle there are two kinds of strategy plays: Skirmish and rank & file. First turns around smaller engagements in loose formation, the other tells large mass battles with arranged army rows.
Chronopia alternating activation of the units, different actions, basing on d20´s and the general simplicity and an nice playing speed. All this was formed by Target Games into an extremely flexible and innovative game.
Today saw the release of the new Age of Sigmar App.
To those who have used the 40k app the two work in the same way as each other, with a code on your Battletome unlocking the special rules, battalions and subfaction rules of on the app.
There are three main areas on the app itself, those being reference, storm forge and core rules.
REFERENCE
The reference page
Reference are all of the faction and subfaction specific rules, warscrolls traits and everything else you can think of. There is an easy to use search engine included which allows you to quickly navigate to what you’re looking for.
The search engine
STORM FORGE
Under Stormforge you are able to create your army lists quickly with simple choice clicks along the way. I was able to create a Kruleboyz list in under a minute. Granted it’s not a tournament winning list, but it’s great to just play around with and put lists together on.
CORE RULES
The core rules does exactly as it suggests and provides the essentials for game play. You’ll also find the FAQ’s and designers notes under this section as they’re released as well. The only thing you will miss and that I would love to see is the Path to Glory rules included.
CONCLUSION
Yes it’s Beta version, but I found the last app much too cumbersome and battery draining than the newer app. Give this another month and whatever kinks it currently has will be ironed out.
It’s extremely well laid out, easy to read and isn’t a massive drain on your battery.
My only criticism is the missing path to Glory rules. But I understand why GW would only release the free rules inside the app.
As an inclusion as part of the Warhammer+ group of offerings this is fantastic and gives the Age of Sigmar fans something to get their teeth into.
So with August over its time to review the Path to Glory campaign.
Three games took place this month. Two between Ben and Declan which you can read here, and another between Aron and his friend Rick.
Declan managed to take two wins against the forces of Chaos and he advanced further north-east on the map, building a small settlement around a realmgate. To the south-east of his settlement he discovered Wild Lands which are currently under the control of the Undead (Aron).
Meanwhile Aron’s forces led by the Vengorian Lord Shana, the Flame of the Heavens successfully repelled a chaos incursion into their lands, utterly defeating the force leaving no one alive to tell the tale.
After the battle his scouts returned advising him of a Troggoth settlement that had sprang up to the north just beyond the wild lands around what they had assumed to be a ruined realmgate.
Shana had to plan their next steps carefully.
Aron’s Undead Forces
We haven’t yet covered Aron’s forces in the campaign. Aron has 2,000 points of Soul light Gravelords.
Led by Shana, Flame of the Heavens a Vengorian Lord the forces include two heroes Wilhelmina Carmel a vampire lord in the thrall of Shana and Machtrohl the Unbroken, Shana’s iron fist.
Aron’s forces includes the following units;
Deathrattle Skeletons (Bone Legion)
Dire Wolves (Alpha)
Zombie Dragon (Deadarire, Bringer of the Dead)
Vargheist (Primus)
Blood Knights (Lord Vahl’s Riders)
Deathrattle Skeletons (Ossius Legion)
Grave Guard (Order of Merihim)
Black Knights (Knights Noir)
As Aron has a 2,000 point list he was able to claim three territories at the start of the campaign. He chose a Settlement, Arcane Waypoint and some Wild Lands.
No games for Rhys, Dave, Ed or myself yet. But watch this space. I have a feeling Nurgle and Chaos may be rumbling soon…..
This weekend sees the release of two Battletomes (Orruk Warclans & Stormcast Eternals) along with a selection of miniatures for both ranges.
The battletomes will come in both a limited edition format and the usual hardback format. You’ll also be able to pick up the warscroll cards for both factions.
The miniatures being released by Games Workshop are, as always second to none in their quality and looks with very few companies being able to match their standard.
Games Workshop Minis Released this Weekend
The below releases are all listed as September release with no exact dates.
All of the miniatures below are for use in Warlord Games‘ Warlords of Erehwon: Mythic Americas ruleset. After Games Workshop it can be argued that Warlord Games are the second largest company in the wargaming industry with rulesets for Sci-fi, Fantasy and Historical wargames.
Wargames Atlantic provide alternatives for miniatures which can be used in other games systems. This weekend sees the release of three different boxed sets:
The first is French Infantry which can be used for World War 1 enthusiasts, and at £25 for a box of 35 models is a great bargain. If you buy more than one set you also have a bulk purchase discount.
The next is Cannon Fodder, which can be used for a variety of Sci-Fi Games. These would make a great alternative for either Cadians and at £25 for a box of 30, they make a far cheaper alternative giving you three squads of troops!
The final offering from Wargames Atlantic is the Goblin Warband, again with 30 miniatures for £25.
Just the one offering from Mantic Games this week in the form of their Halfling Engineer for Kings of War. £10 direct from their website.
Note – this was written for AOS3 – we are now in AOS4, so some of the comments below may no longer be valid
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it.Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
I am at heart a Destruction player, having played them at most of the tournaments I’ve been to since AOS was launched. My main army is definitely the Gloomspite Gitz, but they have been in a bad place for some time and so I switched to Orruk Warclans at the end of AOS2. This wasn’t my first time with them as I did play with a lot of Ardboyz in AOS1 under ‘MoComp’ before points were released by GW.
So, as I’ve got a little experience with them I’ve decided to do a bit of wishlisting for the new release of the Orruk Warclan book which goes on pre-order this weekend (11th & 12th September 2021). I don’t have any insider knowledge, so all this is bound to be wrong, but it’ll be interesting (to me at least!) to see how wrong.
Overall Book
We already know that the book includes the new forces of the Kruleboyz and that it still includes the Ironjawz and Bonesplitters. There have also been releases about the Kruleboyz with the Dominion box and over on Warhammer Community in the last few months. So I’ll try to incorporate what we’ve learnt below.
Allegiances
I hope we keep the allegiances with Ironjaws, Bonesplitters and Kruleboyz and that we retain a Big Waaagh! version.
I’d like to mostly retain the Waaagh points, especially the extra ‘+’ to cast. It would be good if it were a true allegiance with their own artefacts, magic etc… but I don’t see that happening as it could get too confusing.
Hopefully we’ll also keep some of the sub-allegiances although now would be a great time to remove the Realmgate requirement for the Bloodtoofs!
Ironjawz
The Ironjawz are good, and doing reasonably well in AOS3 with the Maw Krushas doing a lot of the heavy lifting, so I don’t think much needs to be changed. However if I’m wish listing the following could do with attention:
Gordrakk to be on a level with some of the other God characters, and at least as good as the Megaboss on MawKrusha. Ability to take mount trait for BigTeef (his MawKrusha); or a significant point reduction
Megaboss on MawKrusha looks like they may lose their 3+ armour save which if there isn’t a way to get back to 3+ will need a points reduction. Command Ability needs to be replaced as it another +1 to hit. Charge mortal wounds back to 4+
Orruk Ardboyz – they currently have same function as the Brutes. Turn them into Brutes light, with worse attacks and lower bravery. To be used for objective holding whilst Brutes go forward.
Gore-Gruntas – 2″ reach
Bonesplitters
Bonesplitters did well at Nashcon with two army lists, but haven’t shown up in many other tournaments. Perhaps the old list of ‘Kunning Rukk’ which shot people off left a bad taste in the mouth, but with LRL now on the board and lots of Sons of Behemat there may be play with the Bonesplitters now.
Wurrgog Prophet – A good scroll
Savage Big Boss – Command Ability to work with shooting as well
Maniak Weirdnob – Spell replicates above command ability. Would be good to have a difference
Wardokk – A scroll prayer
Savage Orruks / Savage Orruk Moarboyz – combine these warscrolls
Savage Boarboyz / Savage Boarboy Maniaks – combine these warscrolls
Savage Big Stabbas – help with survivability (maybe -1 to hit with shooting if near Savage Orruks, not closest to enemy)
Savage Orruk Arrowboyz – Swap the Loadsa Arrows ability for something that doesn’t add dice (more low quality shots!!)
Kruleboyz
We only know what we’ve been told about these so I’m bound to miss some units. They rely on poison to do their damage, and unlike the other Orruks have ranged attacks.
Allegiance abilities to help with the poison (ie double down!)
Hobgrots Battleline if and get Orruk benefits for a build or Allegiance
Monsters to be playable to fairly pointed
Shooting to be able to affect the meta, by outdistancing LRL, and being able to hurt monsters
Some of the fun traps which were written about in the Dominion novel.
Kragnos
The elephant in the room. Hopefully he’ll be good enough to see play in some competitive builds, and will be given a mortal wound after save. Whilst he is a 2+ save there is so much that can avoid this at times he feels like he’s wearing paper… which to be fair, he’s not wearing a lot.
I would also like to see GW giving a different point value for Kragnos with the other Destruction forces (particularly Gloomspite Gitz)
Summary
Orruk Warclans are a Destruction book that definitely has options and can compete for 4-1 in the hands of an experienced player, so my primary hope is that the book doesn’t become bad with the new release. All the parts are there, and hopefully the Kruleboyz won’t be a third wheel and break the book.
And I suppose another one – hopefully the Kruleboyz are playable on their own without the other Warclans Orruks being necessary.
What do you think? What are you hoping for? How wrong am I?
Orange Ben and @rightangle79 (Declan) are both off to the Facehammer Grand Tournament this weekend (11th & 12th September 2021). I thought it would be a great time to interview them about their tournament lists and their past glories…..
Ok. So you’ve both been to tournaments before, what do you enjoy the most about them?
Ben: For me it’s mainly seeing friends and looking at cool armies. But mainly this:
Declan: Seeing friends, having a beer and chatting about Warhammer. It also means I have a deadline for painting toys… which I almost always need. For most tournaments I include something new to paint.
So which armies are you taking to Facehammer this year? Care to share your lists?
Ben’s Kharadron Overlords (Ghostlords)
Declan’s List
Loonboss – Clammy Hand
Fungoid Cave Shaman – Hand of Gork
Madcap Shaman – Hand of Gork & Moonface Mommet
Webspinner on Arachnarok Spider – Curse of da Spider God & Amulet of Destiny
60 Shootas
20 Shootas
40 Stabbas
2 x 20 Stabbas
2 x Sneaky Snufflers
Rippa’s Snarlfangs
Scuttletide
Scrapskuttle’s Arachacauldron
Emerald Lifeswarm
2120 points; 214 wounds; Warlord; Hunters of the Heartlands; Vanguard
This is my favourite at the moment. Other option is full squigs.
Do you have battle plans or tactics in mind for when you make it to the tournaments?
Ben: To a certain extent, you know you need to claim objectives so you need units that can do that.
Declan: Gloomspite outside Troggs can struggle to kill things so I need to play like Gargants – get on objectives early and start scoring. Hand of Gork (movement spell) is critical in the list as it means people can’t leave objectives unguarded. I have the Spider to get Monstrous Takeover early and get the option of broken ranks with him. Although I need to protect him or lose him on my turn to prevent him giving 1 point away. 2nd turn is normally Ferocious Advance with Loonboss and both Fungoids (who spend most of their time hiding behind the Loonshrine). Finally I don’t mind losing units because I want as many opportunities as possible to get them back – hence Clammy Hand (Roll twice for reinforcements from Loonshrine).
Ben’s Ghostrek
Ben, I notice you have the dreaded Gotrek! Facehammer have slightly adjusted rules for him now, how do you think he’ll do?
Ben: He is still super smashy, he is there to kill gargants!
Declan, Sounds like a thorough plan. I love the Arachnarok unit, I’ve seen people include more than one, you weren’t tempted to do this?
Declan: I want to try a horde army because its my normal playstyle and is against the meta with reinforcement points and no horde discount. Unfortunately points are too high normally, but with an extra 150 it’s worth a go. I also want GW to see that people will take armies which are rubbish if they get small boosts. GG effectively have c8% reaction in points at facehammer which is what they need before the book. Unfortunately 60 Grots went from 360 to 450 which is criminal for a low power level book.
Have you ever crossed swords with each other in a tournament, if so how did that go?
Declan: I think we played Ogor v GG didn’t we? On the way in people were complaining about your list being too good and I said it was fine… then gummed you up with Grots?
Ben: Yeah it was the cows Throwing snowball list, I told everybody it was rubbish but no one believed me and then I got grotted!
Declan: Ah yes… you forgot the Stonehorns!! I did have 180 Grots in your defense.
Ben: 2+ I do six mortal wounds, cool, there are 54 left.
Declan: Yeah… no where near enough damage.
Whats your most memorable moment at a tournament?
Ben: Played a chap called Laurie who Declan will know, with a shooty stormcast list, and turn one took off his archaon off turn one, was crazy good.
Declan: I was playing GG with allied Gitmob grots at Sheffield Slaughter against Nurgle with their first book. It was against a GW employee who I won’t name as they get enough grief! His Great Unclean One had a -1 to hit within 12″ bubble. My shaman cast a spell on 60 Gitmob archers, who walked into the 12″ range, fired at the GUO and took it off! He was a little shocked but took it very well!
Ben’s Ghostlords Army
For someone looking to go to their first tournament, what advice would you give?
Declan: Definitely take the plunge. Let the TO and your opponents know it’s your first tournament. Take an army you know (don’t go for LRL net-list). Limit your warscrolls where possible. If you can bring 6 or fewer it gives you a chance of remembering the rules. Play the objectives!
Ben: Agreed
Looking at each others list, how would you try and defeat them?
Ben: You can’t ask us that we might play each other! But the short answer is throw Gotrek at him and shoot him a lot.
Declan: I think I probably have the advantage due to numbers here. If I can get on the objectives early it’s difficult to get me off them. Especially as Ben’s units flying in the boats don’t count as on the objective. I also just played Will with his KO and the grots can actually damage the units with shooting, and in combat. That said no doubt we’ll play now and Ben will rightly beat me!
Following my article last week on five alternatives to Age of Sigmar, I thought I would do some research and find out what the 50 greatest Fantasy games (skirmish & Massed Battles) of all time are.
This will come with some caveats; the ratings are taken from BoardGameGeek.com and I have only included games which have more than 50 votes against their name. This may mean that some of the more recent rules are missed off the list (Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, being one).
The listed is sorted by the highest rated to the lowest, with games of equal ratings being split by the number of votes (the more votes, the higher their placing).
Some of the popular games you know and loved also didn’t quite make it into the top 50. These include Warhammer Fantasy Battles (1st Edition) 1983 (Ranked 52nd), Battle Masters 1992 (Ranked 61st) and Cadwallon: City of Thieves 2010 (Ranked 62nd).
So without further ado, let’s jump into numbers 50-46:
50. Warhammer Age of Sigmar (1st Edition) (2015) – Games Workshop
The Age of Sigmar 1st Edition Boxed Set
This was Games Workshops’ attempt to reignite the passion for Fantasy in their fan base. However the initial release saw a lot of backlash from the loyal Fantasy fans who had been playing Warhammer Fantasy since the 80’s. This included videos of some fans burning their Warhammer Fantasy army. A lot of outrage was due to the change in base sizes and the “squatting” of many factions such as Tomb Kings and Bretonnia.
The move to Age of sigmar, also saw many rules pop up for “Rank and Flank” games as a result. Games such as Kings of War and the Ninth Age came about mainly because of the removal of Warhammer Fantasy Battles.
Rise of the Kage started life as a Kickstarter on 6th September 2014 and was funded only five days later. It also met all of its stretch goals by the 5th of October after raising £105,000.
The boxed set is all you need to play and all the miniatures are included with no further purchases necessary.
“Rise of the Kage is a fast paced, tense and thrilling board game for two to four players. The game is set in the world of the Jwar Isles, and requires one or more players to control the stealthy ninja, and one player to control the stalwart guards.“
48. Elder Scrolls: A Call to Arms (2019) – Modiphius
“Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll?”
The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms is a skirmish level wargame that has two modes, either solo utilising the rules for ‘Delve Mode’, or you can go head to head with other players in ‘Battle Mode’. Both play styles can quickly be picked up from the scenarios listed within the quest book, although you are able to easily create your own.
“It is the time of the Dragonborn. Battle rages across the forests, plains and mountains of Skyrim as Imperials and Stormcloaks fight for supremacy. In ancient barrows, the restless dead rise from their sleep. Skeletons and fearsome Draugr jealously guard their treasures from bands of delving adventures. The Elder Scrolls: A Call to Arms is an adventure wargame set in the world of Tamriel. Gather your heroes and venture into Draugr haunted tombs and ruins, searching for treasure and glory. Or, fight the Civil War as the Stormcloaks and Imperials battle for the future of Skyrim.”
In 2005 Games Workshop released a boxed game called Great Battles of Middle Earth: The Battle of Five Armies based on the battle from the book “The Hobbit”. The rules are heavily based on the Warmaster ruleset, and it uses the same miniature scale. The boxed set contains rules, 10 mm plastic miniatures, and scenery (plastic hills, ruins and a cardboard river).
Additional miniatures for this game were cast in white metal. While detailed in the box set rule book, these extra miniatures were sold separately. They were discontinued shortly after being released. The box set remained in print for a long while before being removed shortly before the launch of the 28 mm line based on the movie “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”.
Battleground is advertised as a miniatures game without the miniatures. Players are given cards representing the bases of the various units with the artwork on top. However, there is nothing stopping you substituting these for actual miniatures from your favourite manufacturer.
Battleground is still for sale today through Your Move Games‘ website.
“Armies of stalwart Men defend their homelands against the Undead tide. Battle tested strike forces of High Elves ambush the Orc horde. Regiments of indomitable Dwarves fend off Dark Elven raids. Marshal your forces and command them to victory, but take caution: you cannot be everywhere on the battlefield at once. Your troops will follow your orders completely, and the general who triumphs is the one not just with the best strategy but who can also adapt to changing circumstances.”
